Lima, Peru Blackjack

**Meistro123** · 11-05-2016, 06:49 AM

The two casinos I found with shoe games were Casino Zamba and casino Buenavista. They are both located in shopping malls. I scouted extensively, both live and online, but I might have missed a game or two. Taxis in Barranquilla are unmetered but in my experience the cabbies are all honest. American dollars are not accepted anywhere except the 'Cambios' (change) places. The rules are incredible and the penetration is decent. I lost heavily at both casinos. When you split AA, you can split for double. So let's say you bet 20000 COP. Normally you put up another 20000 COP, right? Betting in total 40,000 COP. But in Barranquilla you can put another 20k behind each of your aces, betting 80k in total. That is what I mean by split aces for double. There is a massive language barrier issue, no one speaks English. Also Barranquila is not a great place temperature wise. It's extremely hot and humid. Apparently it is a 2 hour bus ride from Cartagena.

**ZenMaster_Flash** · 11-05-2016, 08:28 AM

Meistro123,

Is it safe to carry mucho dollars in Columbia ?

**Meistro123** · 11-05-2016, 09:12 AM

Nothing terrible happened to me over the two months that I spent exploring that country. I think that Colombians are like people in every country, for the most part decent, hard working, God fearing individuals just trying to get through the day. Of course there are ways you can minimize or aggravate your risk. I wouldn't walk around drunk carrying a bunch of money, for example, and you probably don't want to spend too much time walking around bad areas especially at night, although I walked around a bit in very seedy areas at night without anything happening to me. Taxis are dirt cheap and always readily available, although you might have some issues with the language barrier if you do not speak a modest amount of Spanish. Colombian sin card, data package and google translate is your friend. If you just flew into Medellin and stayed at say, Hotel Ibis (37-45 usd a night, very nice hotel), in El Poblado (upscale / tourist areqa) and hit up the casinos then you would be totally safe. All of the casinos with blackjack are located in that area as well. There are 6 or 7 casinos in Medellin that host beatable blackjack, all with the phenomenal rule set I have discussed earlier. And promos are quite common as well. They had a change 100k get 25 or 30k free chip (surrendered on win) daily promo at all the casinos when I was there. now this is only $8 or $10 usd but it's still nice.

The limits are generally tiny. 1.33 to 66 usd is common. 1.33 to 33 usd max tables exist. There are some 100 or 133 or 333 usd max games as well. But since you can't bring a ton of cash in or out of the country, and who wants to play huge money in a third world country anyway, it's almost for the best. Plus you can get some pretty nice edges even with the lower bets. Some of these games are off the top player advantage. The "worst" games have a less than .1% house edge.

**Meistro123** · 11-05-2016, 09:29 AM

One night I was staying at a super cheap hotel in El Centro. El Centro is one of the worst areas of Medellin. By day, it is a bustling street market, with some of the worst traffic you have ever seen. At night, it is filled with homeless and crazy people, begging and sleeping in the streets. My hotel was 42k COP a night ($14) and except for the rock hard bed and the crazy noise in the morning it was surprisingly decent. They would also do your laundry for 1k COP (33 cents) per item. One night I took pity on a group of beggers who were sitting on the street near my hotel and handed a few of them each a bill. Some of the bills were even 50k COP notes (usd 16) which is the highest denomination of Colombian currency. Now they all wanted one, but I eventually said no one walked away. One guy followed me. The beggars were between me and my hotel so I tried to navigate around them. The beggar started chasing after me and I ran away from him. Eventually I ended up on the other side of the street from where the beggars were and took refuge in a Chinese restaurant. Pollo Asado (roasted chicken) is a common dish in Colombia and one of my mainstays while I was there, so I got half a chicken ($3.33 usd) and then gave the beggar, who had stuck with me this entire time, 5k COP and his friend 5k COP as well. This satisfied them and they finally left me alone. Probably the guy who followed me didn't even have any malicious intention and just wanted to beg. Obviously I don't recommend handing out money to beggars on the street, because it does of course expose you to serious risk, but they are just so pitiful you can't help but want to do something to improve their lot in life. Being homeless in Colombia must absolutely suck. If you do want to hand out some money to beggars in Colombia, which is in my experience a profoundly rewarding activity, you can always do it from the safety of a taxi. One time I gave a young man or old teenage boy a 20k note and he literally jumped for joy 4 times in the air and started screaming about his good fortune. $6.66 usd! He had never seen so much money in his life.

Also ED medication is OTC there and dirt cheap. The cheapest generics are less than a dollar a pill. I think it's 30 here? When I got back to Canada the customs lady was certain that I was carrying a brick of cocaine and searched my luggage extensively. It didn't help that some of my stuff tested positive for trace amounts of the substance (according to her, who knows, that might even have been a ruse). What can I say, I was in Colombia, it would have been rude not to try it. Obviously I was not stupid enough to try to import cocaine into my country, as they search the SHIT out of you, both leaving Colombia and coming into Canada. But she did find a few Sudenafil tablets, which is a controlled substance here, but didn't even bother to confiscate them.

**Freightman** · 11-05-2016, 09:45 AM

Meistro
Looks like you're a fellow Canuck. Sent you a pm, looks like you cant receive. Curious as to where from etc. Can u email me?

[email protected]

**Meistro123** · 11-05-2016, 11:20 AM

I sent you an e-mail.

**WABJ11** · 11-11-2016, 09:07 PM

Blackjack in Peru is awful and weird. First off they only open the tables at 6pm. Slots are 24/7. Their "high limit" Room is $25-$500 max three spots. They hand shuffle, and I saw a four zone and six zone shuffle. Dealers cut out 2-2.5 decks quite ridiculously. They deal themselves a hole card, but do not check for blackjack. If an ace is revieled after all players make their decisions you only lose original bet. Other than that liberal rules but I wouldn't go out of my way to play in Lima.

**Meistro123** · 11-11-2016, 09:54 PM

i'll take full early surrender and 3/6 over typical north american rule set and 4.5/6. the slow shuffles are super annoying i will give you that. anyway ENHC is really not that unfavourable rule especially with ES. who wants to split 88 v T anyway!

**WABJ11** · 11-13-2016, 07:07 PM

Also I should note you can't surrender vs an A.

Yeah rules are okay but pen is truly horrific.

**Exoter175** · 11-14-2016, 09:44 PM

Originally Posted by Meistro123

i'll take full early surrender and 3/6 over typical north american rule set and 4.5/6. the slow shuffles are super annoying i will give you that. anyway ENHC is really not that unfavourable rule especially with ES. who wants to split 88 v T anyway!

I can't for any reason think of a reason why you'd do this. Are you banned from the USA or something? You seem to "love" everything outside of the US, and playing those rules and giving up 25% pen doesn't seem like a "Positive" move when you factor everything in.

**DjArdy** · 09-25-2017, 04:02 PM

Hello Everyone, Im new here. Some info about Lima:

Number of casinos (that I know) with BJ tables:
12(of those, at least 4 with games in USD)

Rulles are: S17, early surrender (no surrender agains an A's) up to 4 splits, 6 decks, hand shuffle. Some CSM but they are disapearing. Also some casinos have side bets (perfect pair).
In local currency tables are S/.10-100 up to 50-500
Dollars games go from $2-20 up to 50-500. At times in Golden Palace Casino the limit can go up to $1000 con the "vip room" (once, on a Baccarat game at the vip room saw a dude walk away with 150k after playing 5k a hand for a couple of hours).

Casinos are mainly in the Miraflores area, near Larco avenue: Fiesta Casino, Atlantic City Casino, Majestic (Marriot Hotel), Hacienda Casino. Also in the San Isidro Area is Golden Palace, the biggest casino in Lima (total 8 bj and 24 total tables). Also in "Avenida La Marina" one of the main avenues, there are 4 more casinos with bj, dont remember the name. There are also casinos in the Surco area (Casino El Polo, Casino Luxor), San Borja area (Astoria Casino), Lince area (Casino Fortuna).

Deck Penetration is very variable with dealers and casinos. Worst i've seen is 2.5 in Fiesta Casino. Ussualy in most casinos is around 1/6-2/6, 1.5 average. Ive seen some new dealers cut as far as less than 1/6.